Plug setter



Jan. 5, 1954 D. D. MccoRMlcK PLUG SETTER 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed May 19, 1948 4 m W 3 y c c .uhm D, N m D n O 6 A. 2 2 A 5 5 5 5 2 /l Jan. 5, 1954 D. D. MocoRMlcK PLUG SETTER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 19, 1948 Q wwe/Mofa Fig. 4

n Mmm .DEH/v D. McC'oRM/cx www Patented Jan. 5, 1954 2.664.953 raue sE'rTER Dean AD. McCormick, Painesville, Qhio, assigner to Diamond Alkali Company, Cieveland; Ohio,

a'corporation 'of Delaware Application Ma.y19, 1948, Serial No. 27,949

This invention relates to plugging operations for subterranean wells and Amore particularly relates to apparatus for securing the setting .of a plug in a well at a desired point, which apparatus enables a plug to be run into a Well on a cable or the like, actuates the setting of the plug, and is removable from the well vupon the setting of the plug.

In wells, such as oil wells, salt wells, gas wells, and the like, it is often necessary to seal oi a particular well for one purpose or another; in ,order to do so, various means of locating plugs at a particularly desired point at which the seal is to be made have been devised.

This invention is more particularly directed to a means for placing the plug in a desired posi-V tion and not to the plug itself.

The customary and best known manner for set.- ting a plug in a well is to run the plug down'the well to the desired point on a line of pipe. It will be appreciated, of course, that this operation is one of tremendous expense both in materials and time consumed. This is especially .true in wells, the depth of which is of the .order of thousands of feet. Obviously, if some practical and simple means could be devised for running the plug down the well on a line of cable and securing its setting at a desired point, considerable expense in setting plugs in wells could thereby be saved.

Various means for setting plugs in wells by means of cable suspended apparatus have'y .been proposed. These have included electrically detonated exploding devices, solenoid operated devices, and various complicated mechanical structures. None has enjoyed commercial and practicable application, however, lboth in View of expense of use and unpredictability `of results.

The present invention has as its principal b,- ject the provision of a simple, mechanical def vice adapted to secure the setting of a plug in a well and adapted to be removed from the well upon the completion of the setting of the plug. A more particular object of the invention is .the provision of means permitting the descent of the plug into the well on a cable, Ywhich means may suitably be adapted Awith minor modifications to plugs heretofore thought only vsettable in a well on a line of pipe. A further object of ,the invention is to provide plug setting means descendable into a well upon a cable or the like, which plug setting means shall have preliminary, initial setting instrumentalities, secondary permanent plug setting instrumentalities'and which apparatus shall be conveniently and easily'remov- `2 claims. (o1. 16s-113) able from vthe Vwell after the secondary permanent plug setting instrumentalities shall have operated vand not otherwise.

A still further object of the invention Vis to provide plug setting instrumentalities comprising upper and lower jars, in which the upper jar mounts a preliminary plug r4supporting rod, the lower end of which rod is removably secured to the plug in a manner to actuate setting means in the plug by its removal, and the lower jar has a shear section adapted to shear under a pull greater than thatrequired permanently to set the plug.

Other objects of the invention and advantages thereof will appear more particularly kfrom the detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention which follows, which 'description may be taken with .the drawing in which,

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional View of the apparatus of this invention Aas secured to a conventional WellA plug in position in which the plug would be lowered into thewell, parts being broken away, f

Fig. 2 is a similar view of the same apparatus with kthe preliminary setting ofthe plug in the well achieved,

Fig. 3 is a view 4of the apparatus of this invention, showing the plug permanently set in the well and lthe apparatus of'this invention being withdrawn from the well', and

Fig. 4 is a more detailed view of a plug towhich the apparatus of this invention mayv be applied in setting the plug in a well or thelike.

As noted above, the invention is applicable to conventionaly types of vbridging plugs heretofore loweredinto 'a Well on' aL line of pipe with the consequent expense and disadvantages herein discusse'd. Accordingly, the `invention may be described in connection with one such plug which is shown in Fig. 4. For convenience, the plug and its operation may be first described herein.

' Referring to Fig". 4, the plug comprises the central mandrel v2, having threaded .thereto base member .4, kwhich mounts on its upper surface 6, segmental slips B'having teeth I0 cut so as to prevent downward'movement thereof when in set position. Packer I2 may be of rubber or any other suitable liquidsealing lresilient material and may be secured from ultimate downward movement by inner slips I4. Above and below packer I2 are mounted frusto-conical expanders I5 and I8, expander I6 serving to spread slips 8 when the same are ,moved in an upward direction outwardly against the well casing (not shown). The upper portion of the plug is provided with top slips 20 against which spring 22 bears tending to thrust the slips 28 downwardly and outwardly on expander I8 against the well casing. The teeth 24 are cut to prevent their upward movement after the teeth are set against the side of the Well.

In the initial and unset condition of the plug, the lower slips 8 are held in non-operating position by the position of the mandrel 2 and the upper slips are held in non-operating position by the pin 26, which engages slip 20 through hole 28, the spring 22 thereby being prevented from thrusting the slips downward. Pin 26 is in turn engaged by pin 30, the inner end of which is engaged by the bearing surface 32 in the auxiliary releasing sleeve 34, which is held in position in the packer proper by the pin 36.

The plug operates by the rupture of the pin 36, whereupon the releasing sleeve 34 may be withdrawn by means to be described, the withdrawal of the sleeve thrusting the pin 30 in an outward direction and accordingly thrusting the pin 26 to a position within the slip 25 (see, for example, Fig. 2), whereby the spring 22 may by its downward action thrust the slips 20 outwardly on the expander i8, against the sides of the casing or 'well and thus set preliminarily the slips 20 in proper position. It will be appreciated that upon an upward force being exerted upon the mandrel 2, the slips 20 will be more firmly set in their position against the side of the well and accordingly, the entire assembly comprising the slips 8 and the packer I2 will move upwardly in the direction of the set slips 2G, slips 8 thereupon moving outwardly on expanders i being firmly set against the side of the well casing, and packer l2 setting against the side of the well and comprising a tight liquid seal.

As noted above, the above-described bridging plug is not claimed as novel herein but is merely described for convenience in considering the present invention, which is directed to a means of positioning such a plug in a well.

Referring now more particularly to the structure of this invention and having particular reference to Figs. l, 2, and 3, the upper portion of the plug comprising the mandrel 2 and other structures, as set forth above, is shown in Fig. 1 in the position in which it descends into the well. Releasing sleeve 34 is in its set or non-operating position in the plug and is held therein as heretofore set forth by pin 35. Inserted in the top of releasing sleeve 34 is spear 4U, which may be conveniently secured in any desired manner to rod 42 or may be integral therewith as shown and is held in sleeve 34 by spear head 39. Rod 42 is preferably secured to the bottom of upper jar 44 by means of nut 46 or any other suitable means. Jar 44, by means of ring 48 or the like, may suitably be secured to the descending cable (not shown). The rod 42, as may be seen from Fig. l, is shorter in length than the extended position of jars 44 and 50. Accordingly, in the position shown of the elements in Fig. 1, the plug is run into the well, the entire plug being supported by the spear 40, which is as noted inserted into the sleeve 34.

Upon the structure reaching the desired position in the well, a jerk on the line secured to the ring 48 shears pin 36 and releases sleeve 34 which may be withdrawn from the plug, resulting in the preliminary setting of the slips 2D', as described hereinbefore. Upon the removal of releasing sleeve 34, however, the rod 42 no longer supports the plug and the same is then supported,

and may move slightly downwardly in the well, by lower jar 50 and upper jar 44, as shown particularly in Fig. 2. Lower jar 50 may be secured by any convenient means to the top of the mandrei 2 or to the auxiliary threaded member 52, which is threaded into the mandrel 2 as shown in any of the gures. Connection may be had with the threaded member 52 by means of bolts 54 and rings 56 or by any other suitably desired means.

Upon upward pull being exerted upon the jars 44 and 50, it will be appreciated that as described heretofore in connection with Fig. 4, the plug will become rmly set against the sides of the well and will be incapable of further movement therein. In general, plugs of this character are set for a particular maximum pull to be exerted thereon to secure a proper set and once this maximum pull has been exerted, the plug will be set absolutely and permanently against the side of the Well. There is therefore provided in lower jar 5D a shear section 58, which is deliberately designed to have slightly less strength than the remainder of the structure to sever or shear at a particular given pull thereon, which pull of course is suitably designed to be in excess of that necessary to set the plug. Consequently, upon that pressure being exerted, the shear section 58 will part and the plug setting instrumentalities comprising the spear 40 and the releasing sleeve 34, as well as upper jar 44 and the remainder of lower jar 50, may he withdrawn from the well on the cable, leaving the plug set in permanent position as desired. Thereafter, the well may, if desired, be packed With concrete or the like after suitable sealing off of the plug, or any other steps taken in connection with the plugged well, as may be desired.

It Will be appreciated that the present invention, by means of its simple instrumentalities, has provided a method for setting a conventional plug at a desired point in a well, which method avoids entirely the complicated electrical apparatus of the prior art, as well as the disadvantages of other complicated mechanical apparatus heretofore proposed to be used for the same purpose. The invention has a particular advantage in that it is substantially infallible in operation and even in the hands of the most unskilled personnel can scarcely fail to operate properly to set the plug at the desired point. Furthermore, the invention has the advantage of using relatively inexpensive material, whereby the material lost in the well from the operation of setting the plug is of no consequence and if it is desired subsequently to drill through the plug, no expensive equipment need be destroyed in so doing.

While there has been illustrated and described in detail an embodiment of the invention, the described structure is not intended to be understood as limiting the scope of the invention as it is realized that changes therewithin are possible and it is further intended that each element or instrumentality recited in any of the following claims is to be understood as referring to all equivalent elements or instrumentalities for accomplishing substantially the same results in substantially the same or equivalent manner, it being intended to cover the invention broadly in whatever form its principle may be utilized.

What is claimed is:

l. In a plug-setting mechanism for setting a plug in a well, which includes a plug having a mandrel, said mandrel having a slidably mounted exible packer thereon, said packer engaging slip expanders at its upper and lower extremities, said expanders being positioned so as to wedge between said mandrel and upper and lower slips mounted on said mandrel, said lower slips being adapted to move over the lower expanders upon upward movement of said mandrel, and means for moving said upper slips over the upper expanders in preliminary plug-setting position, the improvement in said mechanism which includes plug-setting means comprising upper and lower jars, said lower jar being attached to said plug, said upper jar slidably engaging said lower jar and having a plug-supporting connector extending from said upper jar to said mandrel, said connector being of a length less than the eX- tended length of said jars and engaging releasable plug-supporting means in said mandrel, said connector also engaging additional means coacting with said upper slips for initially maintaining said upper slips in non-plug-setting position against the force of the means for moving said upper slips over said upper expanders in preliminary plug-setting position, upward pull on said upper jar member being eiective to release said plug-supporting means and to actuate said additional means to release said upper slips for movement over said upper expanders, whereby said upper jar will move into contact with said lower jar, and means integral with said lower jar for releasing said lower jar from said plug.

2. In a plug-setting mechanism for setting a plug in a well, which includes a plug having a hollow mandrel open at its upper end, said mandrel having a slidably mounted exible packer thereon, said packer engaging truste-conical slip expanders at its upper and lower extremities, said expanders being positioned so as to wedge between said mandrel and upper and lower slips mounted on said mandrel, said lower slips being adapted to move over the lower expanders upon upward movement of said mandrel, and means for moving said upper slips over the upper expanders, the improvement therein which includes plug-setting means comprising upper and lower jars, said lower jar being attached to said plug, said upper jar being slidably mounted within a slot in said lower jar and having a plug-supporting connector extending into the hollow of said mandrel, said connector being of a length less than said lower jar, and having releasable means connecting the terminus of said connector within said mandrel to said plug, additional means coacting with said terminus and engaging said upper slips for maintaining said upper slips in non-plug-setting position against the force of the means which moves said upper slips over said upper expanders, upward pull on said upper jar member being effective to actuate said releasable means to disconnect said terminus from said plug and to actuate said additional means to release said upper slips for movement, whereby said upper jar will move into contact with said lower jar, and means integral with said lower jar for releasing said lower jar from said plug.

DEAN D. MCCORMICK.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 359,856 Elliot Mar. 22, 1887 901,874 Burgess Oct. 20, 1908 1,733,837 Steinberger et al. Oct. 29, 1929 2,217,747 Henderson Oct. 15, 1940 2,323,085 Davis June 29, 1943 

